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Supplier Invoices

A supplier invoice (a bill) records what a supplier says you owe. It is submitted, approved for payment and posted, which clears the goods-received accrual, reclaims the input tax and raises the creditor. Two checks now protect it: the same supplier invoice number cannot be keyed twice, and a bill that does not agree with its order can be held for review.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Purchasing:

  • Purchasing — the Supplier invoices tab, and the Bills on match hold card

Admin Panel → Payables:

  • Invoice Match Queue — bills held by matching

Architect Panel → ERP - Procurement:

  • Supplier Invoices — every bill; the badge counts bills approved for payment but not yet posted

Who does it

Bills are created by holders of ERP: Payables. Approving one for payment needs the Approve supplier invoices permission. Posting needs post access to the company. Buyers can read bills but not raise them.

Keying a bill

  1. Open the purchase order (Issued, Receiving, Received or Closed) or the booked-in goods receipt the bill is for, and press its Create button for the supplier invoice. Enter the quantities billed.
  2. On the draft, use Edit supplier invoice to enter the Supplier's invoice no., the invoice date, due date and the prices as the supplier charged them.
  3. File the supplier's own PDF in Attachments & notes with What is it? set to Supplier's invoice. It opens beside the bill when anyone reviews it.
  4. Press Submit for approval.

A bill can also be keyed without an order, for example a utility bill. Whether that is held depends on the match policy.

Approval and posting

  • Approve for payment (Submitted to Approved) is offered to holders of Approve supplier invoices, and appears in their My approvals. A holder can also approve straight from Draft.
  • Return for amendment sends a submitted or approved bill back to Draft.
  • Post to the ledger (Approved to Posted) debits the goods-received accrual for what was received (at the order price), debits input tax, and credits the creditor as an open item under the supplier's code, due on the bill's due date.
  • When a match policy applies, any price difference on the bill is posted to the policy's purchase price variance account as its own journal, so the accrual clears to nil.
  • For an order bought two-way (services billed without a receipt), the commitment is relieved at the bill rather than at a receipt.
  • The bill moves to Paid by itself when a payment settles it.

To change the due date of a bill that is already posted, use Correct the due date... on the bill. It needs ERP: Payables or ERP: Finance, a reason, and post access, and it changes the ledger open item and the bill together.

Duplicate bills

When a bill is submitted, or approved straight from Draft, its Supplier's invoice no. is compared with every other live bill from the same supplier, ignoring case, spaces and separators. A match is refused with "Supplier invoice '...' from this supplier is already on bill ... - it would be paid twice. Cancel this one, or correct the number." Cancelled and rejected bills are ignored. A bill with no supplier invoice number is not checked, so make the number part of your keying routine.

Matching

If a match policy is enabled, approving the bill first compares it with its order and receipts. A bill outside the policy's tolerances is refused approval with "This invoice does not match its order: ... Accept the difference or correct the invoice." The held lines show on the Invoice match panel and in the Invoice Match Queue, where a Payables user can accept the difference with a reason. Re-check against the order runs the comparison again after a correction. Matching is described in the next article.

What goes wrong

  • Duplicate refusal: check the other bill named in the message. If this one is the duplicate, cancel it; if the number was mistyped, correct it.
  • Approve for payment is refused by matching: open the Invoice Match Queue, or correct the bill and re-check.
  • Post is missing: the bill is not yet approved, or you lack post access.
  • "This bill is not posted yet" when correcting the due date: change it on the draft with Edit instead.

Worked example

A supplier's invoice INV-2207 arrives for 400 sensor modules already booked in. The payables clerk opens the goods receipt, creates the supplier invoice, enters INV-2207 as the supplier's invoice number, files the PDF beside it and submits it. The Finance manager approves it from My approvals; matching finds price and quantity within tolerance. The clerk posts it and the accrual clears. A week later the same PDF is keyed again by a colleague as "inv 2207"; submission is refused as a duplicate and the second bill is cancelled.

Recommendations

  • Always enter the supplier's invoice number; the duplicate check depends on it.
  • Bill from the receipt where goods were received, so quantities agree.
  • File the supplier's PDF on the bill; reviewers and auditors look there first.
  • Keep keying and approving with different people.